Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) delivered the keynote address at a March 22 luncheon honoring the Women’s Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan, the 2012 recipient of the Madeleine K. Albright Grant awarded by NDI.

In her address, Wasserman Schultz challenged women to take the lead. “Too often, women don’t speak up,” Wasserman Schultz said. “But women's voices are crucial to democracy.”

When the Kosovar government released its ambassadorial nominations last fall, there was a glaring omission — no women were on the list. A group of women members of parliament (MPs) protested at a news conference, which led the government to increase the number of women nominees to one-third.

But when the national television station reported on the press conference, it played traditional wedding music over what the women were saying, making it look more like a party and distracting from the serious message the women MPs were trying to get across.

“Parties that take women’s political participation seriously benefit from stronger electoral positions, access to new groups of voters and stronger relations with their constituents,” NDI President Kenneth Wollack said at the Feb. 29 launch of a new guidebook for political parties.

The guide, Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Good Practices Guide to Promote Women’s Political Participation, was written and produced by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and NDI. 

NDI announced today that it will award its 2012 Madeleine K. Albright Grant to the Women’s Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan.

The Discussion Club, launched with NDI support in 2006, was one of the first groups in Kyrgyzstan to bring together women from diverse backgrounds and political parties to defend the rights and interests of women nationwide.